Tutorial: How to Play GP2 in DOSBox 0.73 with better speed

[DEHUMANIZER95]

Don´t know if this is in the right Forum, but here is my tutorial to play Grand Prix 2 and other games in DOSBox with a better speed!

Step 1.) Start DOSBox and mount your drive.

Step 2.) Go to your GP2 folder

Step 3.) The Standard CPU Cycles of DOSBox is 3000, that´s to slow for GP2. So press CTRL + F12 till you have a Number like 100000 or higher.

Step 4.) Start GP2 and see the difference of the speed.

NOTE: When you use other Programms while you play GP2 in DOSBox it goes of course a little bit slower! Or when DOSBox is minimated it goes of course slower too!


The Pictures to the Steps are in the Attachment.

[AD]

Thank you for this hint. I wasn't aware that the recent version supported raising the number of cycles like that. I was still using 0.72 here, where it was just 100% cpu or less.

[AAS]

Hi
This is a good tip for DOSBox 0.73.
I made some tests (Quick race, 4 laps -elapsed time INGAME: 4 min. 10 sec.)

Real time measured with stopwatch:
CPU Cycles - Standard = 4 min. 27 sec.
CPU Cycles - 110000 = 4 min. 05 sec. =D>

But with DOSBox 0.74 http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1
the game runs faster!
CPU Cycles - Standard = 3 min. 57 sec.

and when I use "CPU Cycles - 110000" in DOSBox 0.74,
the game is veeeeery slooooooooow.

[DEHUMANIZER95]

My tutorial is for DOSBox 0.73, in DOSBox 0.74 the Programm automatic make for each programm the CPU higher or lower.

and when I use "CPU Cycles - 110000" in DOSBox 0.74,
the game is veeeeery slooooooooow.

The Team of DOSBox make Grand Prix 2 compatible with the newest Version, so you don´t need to make in DOSBox 0.74 the CPU higher.

[V12-Power]

Like I described I had some trouble with GP2 in DOSBox running to slow and not smooth, although having a relatively new PC. Finally I've solved this. For that, I changed two parametres, of which the 2nd is the most important:

1) decreased the framerate from max to 16 pics/second

2) changed the GP2lap.cfg. In the lines SvgaRcr1,2,3 I had values of 50000 (edited them because of the sportscars). By decreasing them to 15000 the processor-occupation is decreased dramatically!!

;VgaRcr1 = 2128 ; 0x0850 ; how far away an rcr-jam will be used if you're looking from within the cockpit.
SvgaRcr1 = 15000 0x0C80
;VgaRcr2 = 2128 ; 0x0850 ; how far away an rcr-jam will be used if you're looking through a onboard camera.
SvgaRcr2 = 15000 0x0C80 ; (the one used within Paul's car editor)
;VgaRcr3 = 2640 ; 0x0A50 ; how far away an rcr-jam will be used if you're looking through the on track camera's
SvgaRcr3 = 15000 0x1000 ; or if you're looking in front or back of the car (delete and page down).

[AAS]

2) changed the GP2lap.cfg. In the lines SvgaRcr1,2,3 I had values of 50000 (edited them because of the sportscars). By decreasing them to 15000 the processor-occupation is decreased dramatically!!

That is a got point.
I had trouble with one of my Gp2 installations under dosbox.
Now I know why this GP2 was much slower than the others.
I forgot it completely

[RacerBG]

For me DOSBOX 0.73 is the best emulator for old games but nowadays I prefer to use VDM sound for GP2 Because its easier to start, but its lagging

[DEHUMANIZER95]

yes DOSBox 0.73 is good for some games like F1 Manager Professional (in DOSBox 0.74 the sound sucks).

But what things I need to play GP2 with sound in DOSBox?

[Peze]

Do you have right setup in sound configuration in gp2 (setup.exe)? After that you may need to do some changes to dosbox.conf file's sound configurations to work it properly. In mixer section I have this altered setup, which works fine:

blocksize=2048
nosound=false
rate=22050
prebuffer=1000

[AAS]

yes DOSBox 0.73 is good for some games like F1 Manager Professional (in DOSBox 0.74 the sound sucks).

But what things I need to play GP2 with sound in DOSBox?

Make the GP2 sound setup under dosbox with: http://grandprix2.de/Anleitung/dosbox/setup_nocd.zip
My Settings for GP2 under dosbox
-Sound Blaster 16/ AWE 32
-Port 220
-IRQ 7
-DMA 5

[DEHUMANIZER95]

Thanks for the answer
Is the CD requisted to play it with sound?

[Peze]

That setup_nocd would have been helpful (or this forum for that matter) when I tried to get sound for gp2 in dosbox first time I copied sound.cfg file from old backups (from dos6.22 pc), which worked.

Thanks for the answer
Is the CD requisted to play it with sound?

You mean menu music (?, otherwise you need gp2nocd.exe), I haven't tried dosbox with cd - does the background music work then?

[DEHUMANIZER95]

I haven´t test it. but I mean I want the Ingame Music and Sounds (Crashsounds, Enginesounds etc.)

[AAS]

Sounds (Crashsounds, Enginesounds etc.) works with every nocd installation.

Music doesn't works with nocd installations usually.

But with dosbox and nocd I have different results.
When I install the game without the install.exe
like described here: http://grandprix2.de/Anleitung/dosbox/e ... osbox.html
(Copy the GP2 folder from the GP2 CD to the hard drive. .......)

Then I have the SOUND folder on my hardrive. And the music works without the CD.
But when the installation gets older, when I have patched this installation several times,
the music gets lost.

[Gabriele]

Hi guys!
I've tried different things but I've come out with a not-fully-satisfactory solution.
I own a Mac Book Pro, so my chance to play with Gp2 is through emulators/virtualizators.

At first I tried Parallels Desktop to virtualize a Win 98 machine. Gp2 ran at native speed, full detail, 25,4 fps. The main problem was the sound: terribly lagging. I was at full speed in 6th gear and I still could hear the sound of 5th-6th gear change.
So I switched to a still virtualized Win XP machine with VDMSound, but the sound lagging problem was still there - even if it was less noticeable - plus there were some random crashes and most of all savegames could end up corrupted by that.
So I left the whole virtualization-thing aside, and I removed a ton of dust from an old laptop: WinXp, Gp2 and VDMSound worked a charm (thanks also to your web tutorial!). BUT... after a little bit it became somewhat frustrating not to have all in the same computer.
Second effort with wirtualization, this time through VmWare Fusion. Easier and quicker than Parallels Desktop, it gave better stability and performances. I tried again a Win XP machine - still with VDMSound - but as I start Gp2, the menu appears all messed up (hard to explain, it seems that there is some issues with window dimensions since the graphics are overflowing the window's borders, partially overlapping itself and drawing every two or three lines... ). Then I switched back to a Win 98 machine, again virtualized, but again the same sound lagging issue that I had with the previous software.
Lastly I tried with Boxer (a DosBox 0.73 frontend for Mac) and I must say that FINALLY I got a chance to play Gp2 on my Mac. The only problem is fps: I need to shut down the rear view mirrors graphics, and set the fps at no more than 13-14 fps - which is not exactly a "full detail" way of playing. I tried all the settings discussed until now, but they seem pointless. If I go at full detail, my PO rises up to 350-400% during the start of a race, and does not drop below 250% even if I am alone on the track.
(and to edit Gp2 I have to always drag&drop the Gp2 folder back and forth between DosBox and Win XP under VmWare, but it's the lesser problem).
Anyone has had the same problems, or can sort a way to make Gp2 run smooth on a full-powered Macintosh?
I can't believe a powerful modern computer cannot play a somewhat "easy" application like Gp2.